Satan

Satan, also known as the Devil, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. In Christianity and Islam, he is usually seen as either a fallen angel or a jinn, who used to possess great piety and beauty, but rebelled against God, who nevertheless allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. In Judaism, Satan is typically regarded as a metaphor for the yetzer hara, or "evil inclination", or as an agent subservient to God.

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Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 4 años ago

The Qur'an mentions two types of prostration: (a) prostration as a form of worship and obedience (whether it be literal, as in during prayer; or figurative), and (b) prostration for reasons other than worship (for instance, in some cultures, it was/is a gesture of respect).

Qur'an 2:34, 17:16, and 20:116 say that Allah ordered Shaytan (Iblis) to prostrate to Adam. It literally says "to Adam", and I see no reason why it shouldn't be taken at face value rather than looking for a sideways interpretation. Obviously, Allah is not commanding Shaytan to worship Adam but rather it is a gesture of humility and an acknowledgment of the potential of the human being to ascend higher than the angels. It may also have been a test for Shaytan to prove his inner nature because, up until then, he had been seen as an excellent worshipper. 

(Maybe it was also a gesture of service, in that some of the angels, who were also ordered to prostrate to Adam, are assigned to serve people - for instance, in recording the deeds of people. Some people also hold it was out of reverence for the position of the Prophet Muhammad and his Ahl al-Bayt who would be born from Adam.) 

Anyway, all of this appears to have occurred outside the earthly realm. Some also say that "Adam" here refers to humanity as an archetype as a whole, as existing outside this world, and not the living, breathing human being. So, while we picture this as Shaytan getting onto his hands and knees and performing what we consider to be sajda to Adam as a human being, it may have been somewhat different. So for this reason also, it isn't really worthwhile to differentiate between "sajda to" or "sajda in front of". 

The Qur'an does not specifically say that sajda is only for Allah. Instead, it says that everything in the heavens and earth already does sadja to Allah, willingly or unwillingly (13:52, etc.). This can be taken to mean literal sajda as well as metaphorical. That is, all created beings are compelled to follow the divine decree and no created being can decide it is outside of Allah's control. Most creations willingly worship Allah, although human beings have the free will to worship Allah or other things (and we have the free will to perform sajda to Allah or not perform sajda to Allah). For this reason, the Qur'an tells people not to do sadja to the sun and the moon, and instead tells people to do sajda to Allah who is the creator of the sun and the moon.

However, according to Islamic law, it is not permissible for human beings to do sadja to other Allah. This is derived from Qur'an and hadith. 

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Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 4 años ago

According to the Qur'an and hadith, Shaytan is an immaterial entity who affects people through influencing their hearts and minds.

(By "immaterial", I mean that he is not composed of the same physical material as objects around us. The Qur'an and hadith say that humans are composed of earth, jinn of fire, and angels of light. The prevalent understanding from the Qur'an is that Shaytan is a jinn, although there is a minority view that he was created as an angel. So he is made of something, he is just not made of the same physical substances that we interact with.)

Qur'an 6:122 speaks of shayateen (those who serve the interests of Shaytan) who are humans and jinn. This indicates that human beings themselves can carry out the will of Shaytan without him actually being present in physical form. It also indicates that, when it comes to Shaytan and shayateen, there is a real division between human and non-human beings and it is not metaphorical.

In any case, from that, it is clear that Shaytan does not need to be here in human form to do the job. A commander who can send a footsoldier does not need to show up himself.

In fact, human beings do not even need Shaytan to cause evil! We have the capacity for immense good and immense evil on our own. 

There are some rare cases in the Qur'an where immaterial entities briefly appear as humans, such as when the angel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary, but it is not the norm.

Also, Allah protects the believers from Shaytan. 

So while there are some humans that I might identify as Shaytan (no names here!), the Qur'an lends itself to a more literal interpretation of Shaytan as a wholly non-human being rather than as a someone who is a human or walks around in human form. 

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 4 años ago

Jinn are creatures like us, created by our Creator, Allah, who created every thing, but their world and situation, is not like us. They are not metaphysic but they are true existence in their own world. Jinn are not Satanic beings because we read in Quran about Jinns saying: There are among us that are righteous, and there are contrary, we are groups of different ways) Sura 72, Verse 11.

Jinns are unseen by us, because of our limitations, but there existing just like us in their own world. We are not responsible to go through details of Jinns world, on the contrary, we should avoid trying to get any help from Jinns because that will cause more hardships. ( Sura 72, Verse 6).

Wassalam.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 4 años ago

Satan is not within our unconscious, but a devil which tries to misguide and falsely promise to destroy human being and human life.

Shaitan is not strong at all, but weak, as Allah says in Quran )إن كيد الشيطان كان ضعيفا ))(Surely, the plot of Shaitan is weak)(4:76)ز

Shaitan can not control over human beings but only if they became very weak, then it becomes possible for the weak (Shaitan) to control over the weaker human being.

We need always to seek help of Allah (SWT) to protect us and our families from Shaitan.

Wassalam.